AXIA SOFTSURFACE VIRTUAL CONSOLE SOFTWARE

Control at the Click of a Mouse.

You asked for a way to remotely control your console. Axia heard you! Meet SoftSurface, the audio mixing application for Windows.

You can use SoftSurface two ways. As a remote control, it gives powerful real-time control of premium Axia mixing consoles, utilizing an Axia StudioEngine or PowerStation that’s connected to a Livewire® network. It’s perfect for remote diagnostics or off-site operation of a mixing console from remotes, transmitter sites — even from home, via an Internet gateway.

As a virtual console, SoftSurface combines with an Axia StudioEngine or PowerStation to create a “soft” mixing surface. It’s perfect for those limited-space situations where there’s no room for a real console. With SoftSurface, if you’ve got a Windows laptop and an IP connection, you’re good to go.

Now, when we say SoftSurface lets you control a console, we don’t mean a wimpy console. You get all the functionality and features of Axia’s extremely popular Element and Fusion modular mixing surfaces, the boards at the heart of thousands of superb broadcast facilities around the world.

SoftSurface opens up new dimensions of creative applications for broadcasters. Remote broadcasts get easier: your talent can take a tablet with SoftSurface, a USB mic and a Telos® Z/IP ONE IP Codec into the field, link up with the Element console at your studio, and have its entire suite of capabilities at their fingertips — leave those CDs and MP3 players at home.

Or, pair SoftSurface with a StudioEngine or PowerStation mixing engine for a “virtual console” installation in personal studios, or areas where space restrictions don’t permit a physical control surface.

The SoftSurface display is divided into a virtual mixing surface and a control section. The mixing section’s onscreen width varies based on the number of channels you wish to display, while the context-sensitive control section is fixed in size, and navigation is via a series of intuitive tabs.

The Main Monitor tab provides control of the monitor speakers, operator headphones, external monitor speakers, and preview volume.

The Show Profiles tab reveals the profiles that have been configured and allows the user to select a show and load it. As few as one or as many as 99 Show Profiles are supported.

Monitor Options provides control over dimming values and control of the channel feeding the monitors and headphone.

The Meter Options tab provides control over the presentation of the meters, including choice of metering ballistics styles: VU, BBC and DIN-style PPM, EBU Digital and Nordic.

Auxiliary Send and Return provides control of the final AUX send mix, as well as two auxiliary returns, as defined in the Show Profile. The returns can be assigned to a program bus. These options are defined in
a Show Profile and controlled as needed by the user. Individual sources can be assigned to feed one or all
AUX Send buses from the Channel Options Aux Send screen.

EQ curves are adjustable for each audio source. EQ can be adjusted on the fly, or saved as part of a source’s Source Profile and automatically recalled whenever that source is loaded to a fader.

Mic, Codec and Phone sources can be sweetened with Voice Dynamics from Omnia®. Expansion, Compression and De-Essing are part of the toolkit; Like EQ, dynamics settings can be adjusted at will or preset and saved with sources for automatic recall.

SoftSurface’s signal processing toolkit is completed with comprehensive Pan, Summing and Phase control, available on a per-source basis.